Solar Energy

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/13/feature-0-1394737683281.jpg" /pNextEra Energy has received local approval for the initial phase of one of the biggest solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in the U.S. development pipeline./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/13/feature-0-1394720098729.jpg" /pNarendra Modi hasn’t said much about how he’d govern India if he wins the general election in May. One thing is clear: he’s signaling a clean energy revolution to end blackouts and revive economic growth./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/13/feature-0-1394704166750.jpg" /pOften I hear the argument from solar companies that they can’t be “weird.” They can’t do a promotion with Zombies or anything outside the box and take a risk that people won’t get their marketing humor. They think the solar buying public won’t take them seriously as reliable solar installers. But is that really the case? I’m happy to say that at le/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/12/feature-0-1394636521479.jpg" /pTo say that the European solar manufacturing industry has suffered some setbacks over the past few years would be an understatement. A glut of Chinese-made panels flooded the market in 2010, driving solar module prices to record lows and driving dozens of European and North American solar PV manufacturers out of business. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/12/feature-0-1394658188424.jpg" /pPeople can now help build solar energy projects in a brand new way. RE-volv, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, has developed a revolving fund to finance solar projects for community centers that raises up-front costs by crowdfunding donations. RE-volv just finished its second solar energy project, a 22-kW installation at the Kehilla Community Syn/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/11/feature-0-1394550472669.png" /pThough likely impossible to find anyone in the climate justice or environmental community to say that any sitting U.S. senator — Republican or Democrat — has been an adequate leader on the issue of global warming, 28 Democrats (and two Independents) were garnering soft applause for their overnight effort on Monday into Tuesday as they pulled an all night session focused exclusively on climate change./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/11/feature-0-1394547063291.jpg" /pWorld sentiment seemed to steer away from nuclear energy and toward more renewables following the disaster at Japan's Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant on March 11, 2011. Three years later, have we forgotten?/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/11/feature-0-1394547232622.jpg" /pIn pursuit of a cleaner energy future last August, the city of Minneapolis came to the brink of putting a city-owned utility on the ballot. It was the culmination of a grassroots effort to get cleaner energy and local investment from the city's energy utilities. It won't be a city-owned utility on the agenda this spring, but Minneapolis may launch /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/10/feature-0-1394509622326.jpg" /pLarge German utilities are facing a situation that is very similar to what happened in the telephone business, which started like electric utilities, with central stations that connect to customers with wires. It was also a monopolistic industry that was regulated by localities and governments — it was a regulated, stable and profitable business. The emerging cell (mobile) phones, which are wireless and can be used anywhere in the world, became a fast-growing, unregulated business where profit is limited only by competitors./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/10/feature-0-1394484020769.jpg" /pMore than two dozen legislators are pulling an all-nighter tonight (Monday March 10) on the Senate floor to talk about climate change and what actions must be taken.
/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/10/feature-0-1394467303030.jpg" /pExperts believe that the PJM Interconnection system, which encompasses all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, can handle up to 30 percent of its energy from wind and solar without "any significant reliability issues," assuming transmission upgrades and additional regulation reserves — and at the same time reducing costs and reliance on its costlier conventional generation fleet.
/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/10/feature-0-1394464558586.jpg" /pAfter a massive rally over the last year, shares of solar panel makers could be set for a few months of winter following a disappointing earnings announcement from superstar Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) and a debt default from second-tier player Chaori Solar (Shenzhen: 002506). Such a correction was almost inevitable after last year’s huge rally a/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/10/feature-0-1394456433629.jpg" /pOn a Northern California farm where silage for animal feed once grew, Google Inc. is generating power from more than 100,000 solar panels to heat nearby homes — and double down on an area of energy many investors shun./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/2/27/feature-0-1393526893168.jpg" /pThe ability to accurately predict and prevent power fluctuations is of considerable importance to Solar PV (photovoltaic) plant operators in terms of sustaining profitability, estimating revenue returns and ensuring customer quality of service. Variations in solar irradiance can cause rapid fluctuations in power generation, reducing the quality and reliability of the power generated by large grid-connected PV plants./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/3/feature-0-1393878165743.png" /pThere are more solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the U.S. than ever before and more of them are aging out of warranty coverage. The need to manage this portfolio of residential, commercial and utility-scale solar assets is accelerating a relatively new industry sector, solar PV operations and maintenance (OM)./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/5/feature-0-1394080540737.jpg" /pThe sun has been around for a long time. So has marijuana. Legal pot in the U.S. hasn’t been around for a long time. In fact, earlier this year Colorado became the first state to sell legal marijuana in the U.S. With the country’s—if not the world’s—eyes on Colorado’s new policy, growers are looking for opportunities to better use their profits whi/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2014/3/7/feature-0-1394214747933.jpg" /pClean energy assets in the Middle East and North Africa will more than double in capacity by the end of next year, the Dii GmbH industry association said./p